So, I decided to basically kill two birds with one stone and after a long internal debate I put a profile on a German lesbian dating site. Since I’m absolutely dreadful at writing dating profiles, let alone one in German, I decided to keep it simple and highlighted two main things about myself; that I’m Australian and that one of my hobbies was murdering the German language. I decided to totally cash in on the foreigner thing and this time make it work for me rather than against me. I figured that it would get people interested and I would get a bit of writing practice before they figured out that I wasn’t that interesting or it was too painful to read my badly written emails.

Surprisingly, I got 5 responses within 48 hours of putting up my profile. One was so unbelievably odd and creepy that it wasn’t worth responding to, but the other 4 people seem totally normal. Unfortunately, two of them don’t live in Hamburg but are kind enough to keep writing to me even though my written German isn’t fantastic. One of them actually corrects my emails, which is helpful and amusing at the same time.

The two (which actually became 3 this morning) who do live in Hamburg want to meet up which while this is awesome it is also unbelievable stressful because oh my god, I will have to try to speak German and not sound like a 3 year old. Definitely not going to be impressing anyone with my conversational skills.

Still this week has been fantastic in terms of getting in some German writing practice as I’m writing about 4 emails a day. All of them are still in the getting to know you phase, so I’m repeating a lot of the content, but for the first time ever I’m finding writing in German fun rather than a chore.

If you are looking for German penpals, I can definitely recommend using dating sites. If you aren’t interested in dating you can make it clear in your profile that you are just looking for friends. People will still reply because I find that Germans as a whole are really interested as to why you would choose to live in their country. It is a great way to practice your German writing, get to know some Germans and learn more about the German way of life.

11 thoughts on “Finding German Penpals on Dating Sites”

Hi Riyan, I relate to your angst. I feel like I must sound juvenille when I speak in German. Ive been putting off moving here and just keep visiting my partner here because in part of the language. I also find meet ups really stressful. I cant wait to hear how it all goes for you. I wish you the best of luck.
Lisa

Please don’t put off moving here because you feel uncomfortable speaking German. If you wait til you feel okay speaking German, you may never move here. Depending on where you move to, there will be an English speaking community there who can help you with your German.